


cutting wages

by theycallme_ook



Series: school sanctioned fanfiction [1]
Category: Batman Beyond
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Industrial Revolution, Family Bonding, Gen, no idk what grade i got i never checked, robber barons robbing, the McGinnis' are Georgian bc im enamored w the idea of them being from the caucuses for some reason, unionize against the rich yall, yes i turned this piece in for a grade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29360370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theycallme_ook/pseuds/theycallme_ook
Summary: F**k this. Is what he thought.“Fu- fun. Fantastic. Wonderful. Joy of joys.” is what he said- because Matt was standing right next to him and Terry sure as... heck didn’t want to disappoint his deda further tonight, which took precedence over Willie giving him a funny look.Powers Industries was cutting wages again.
Relationships: Matt McGinnis & Terry McGinnis, Terry McGinnis & Melanie Walker
Series: school sanctioned fanfiction [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2156736
Kudos: 6





	cutting wages

**Author's Note:**

> georgian notes:  
> Deda- mom  
> Mama- dad
> 
> the prompt for this fic was something like 'write abt a fictional character who is affected by a wage cut in the Industrial Revolution'

_ F**k this. _ Is what he thought.

“Fu- fun. Fantastic. Wonderful. Joy of joys.” is what he said- because Matt was standing right next to him and Terry sure as... heck didn’t want to disappoint his deda further tonight, which took precedence over Willie giving him a funny look.

Powers Industries was cutting wages again.

Food was gonna be tight this week, and they definitely wouldn’t be making rent this month- they had just barely scraped up last months’.

“What are we gonna do?” asked Matt in a small voice. Terry sighed. The twerp could be dense sometimes, but that was more a product of being eight years old than insensitive. Besides, he could work on his anger later, right now, Matt needed him to show a brave face.

“Same thing we always do, Mattie-o.” he said with a forced smile as he ushered his baby brother out the door with the rest of the unhappy crowd.

_ What _ , exactly, they always did was to be kept from Matt’s knowledge for a few years yet.

\--

They came home to a near full house. Deda was to be back from the shop within the hour, but the other four residents (the Walkers, a family they had shared this tenement with since Terry was a child and who were as dear to them as kin) were already settled in their usual spots of the three room apartment. It was a raggedy thing, but it didn’t leak terribly and kept the heat well in the cold New Jersey winter, so no one could much complain.

Melanie -the youngest Walker, but who was also Terry’s age- caught sight of his expression when they got through the door and jumped up to distract Matt, dragging the boy off to the McGinnis bedroom to play while Terry collapsed at the rickety table.

“Rough day?” asked Jack, Melanie’s older brother.

“Ugh.” said Terry by way of response.

They let him have a minute before Ace, Melanie’s deaf cousin, tapped his shoulder, no doubt to ask what was wrong, but Terry didn’t have the energy to do more than lift his hands from the table to sign ‘money’ and ‘less’. He decided he was too tired to watch their reactions, too, and was glad when they let him have his rest. He stayed with his head tucked between his arms till deda and mama got home. By that time dinner was served, he mustered up enough energy to smile and joke through the meal and let his worries be soothed by a comforting hug from deda that night.

\--

Work the next day was much the same as it’d always been. Monotonous. Repetitive. Boring. It was a canned food plant, and no one knew what the corn they canned tasted like because anyone caught stealing a bite was fired on the spot. Work was much the same, but the talk was slightly different. Terry wasn’t the only one who’s week had been ruined by the news after all.

_ Unfair _ is what they said.  _ Greedy _ is what they shouted.  _ Strike _ is what they whispered. And Terry was inclined to agree. Had he not spent his whole life watching his deda and mama’s smiles become strained at the end of the month? Had he not lost three little siblings of his own to disease and the inability to afford medicine? Had he not spent the past eight years sneaking bites of his meal to Matt just to let his baby brother go a little less hungry? Why should Powers get to cut wages? What did men like him know of suffering? Or want? Melanie had always been keen on the cause. She’d been laid off enough times to not be as scared of it as Terry certainly was. And if he could just borrow some of her strength, maybe next time, when the treasonous talk of  _ union _ came up again… he’d have the courage to really  _ listen _ .

**Author's Note:**

> listen. sometimes my APUSH class makes me write historical fiction. So of course i take that as an excuse to write historical Batman Beyond fanfiction. I actually really like this little world I've created for this fic, so if anyone were to... maybe possible ask me to do more for this au i might indeed do it


End file.
